Saturday, February 4, 2012

The Anatomy of MEHFIL-E-MILAD For Munkir-e-Milad

Please read with open heart and mind. May Allah give you courage to accept the TRUTH

REQUEST: PLEASE MAKE COPY OF THIS LITERATURE AND DISTRIBUTE AMONG YOUR FAMILY, RELATIVES AND FRIENDS

If somebody tells me that celebrating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad is Kufr, Shirk or Bid'at? I will ask that person only one question and end the discussion, please show me where in Quran or Hadith it is mentioned that commemoration of Milad-un-Nabi on any day specially on twelve Rabi-Awaal is not allowed? On contrary, in Quran Allah Himself narrated the detail of Adam creation and the detail story of the birth of Hadrat Essa (Jesus) Alai Salam. Almost all the messengers of Allah Ta'ala has been foretelling their ummah the coming of the last Prophet Muhammad

Muhammad is a vital link between Allah Ta'ala and Mankind and Love of the Prophet Muhammad is an essential part of one's Iman. Thus Allah Ta'ala commands Muslims to follow (Muhammad ) in Quran as "Say: O, people! if you do love Allah, follow me , Allah will love you and forgive your sins" (Surah Ale-Imran, Verse 31). . The direction is double sided. On the one side, One must follow the Holy Prophet if one loves Allah Almighty , while on the other, one must follow the Holy Prophet if one wants to be loved by Allah Almighty. In other words, as far as love of Allah Almighty is concerned, the follow-up of Holy Prophet is a pre-requisite. This is what Allah Almighty declares. Now listen to what the Holy Prophet declares: "That is, none of you is Momin (believer) unless I am dearer to him than his parents, his children and all other persons." (Sahih Bukhari). All other persons would naturally include all relatives, friends, authoroties etc. It is this divine love that every Muslim Momin feels in their hearts and pay the highest respect to our beloved Prophet after Allah Ta'ala and when the month of Rabi-Awwal comes these Ashiq-e-Rasul start celebrating the birth of their master (Aaqa) Muhammad with great joy in the form of Mehfil-e-Milad.

Unfortunately, among us there are those who mislead innocent Muslim brothers and sisters by calling Mehfil-e-Milad shirk, Bid'at etc, etc and prevent straightforward Muslims from commemorating the birthday of the holy prophet and thus denied them from receiving great blessing of Allah Ta'ala. Also it has seen that those who object on celebrating birthday of our prophet when it comes to their own children they forget all shirk and bid'at fatwa and celebrate their children's birthday or Aqeeqa willingly.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this literature is to show our Muslim brothers and sisters that commencing Mehfil-e-Milad is not against the sharia but it is in accordance to the spirit of Islam. If some one does not like Mehfil-e-Milad it does not mean that celebrating mehfil-e-Milad itself is wrong. In other words if someone does not practice Islam it does not mean Islam itself is bad.

A typical Mehfil-e-Milad consist of the following events. The sequence of events may vary but almost all Milad-un-Nabi gathering consist of all or majority of the following events.

Recitation of Quran-ul-Hakeem

Hamd-e-Allah Ta'ala

Naat-e-Rasul

Speeches on the life of the Prophet Muhammad

Salat (darood)-o-Salam

Dua

Distribution of sweets or Dinner
Now I will Analyze each event and see if it is in accordance to Islam or not. The objective is to prove, if an individual event is in accordance to the Shariah then the whole event collectively is also permissible?

RECITATION OF QURAN-UL-HAKEEM

Nobody has any objection in reading or recitation of the Holy Quran.

HAMD-E-ALLAH TA'ALA

Hamd is a way to praise the Almighty Allah Subhana Ta'ala. Every particle in the universe say Tasbeeh of Allah Ta'ala. Zikr-e-Allah is peace of heart for the momin. Munkir-e-Milad has no objection on it.

NAAT-E-RASUL

Naat-e-Rasul is a way to praise our beloved prophet in the form of poetry or rhymes. Reading Naat gives heart burns to the Munkir-e-Milad and once again they show their animosity against Naat by calling Naat Khawah Mushrik and Bidatti etc.


Let see how Quran-ul-Hakeem praises the Sahib-e-Quran , therefore we find the following verses in the honor and praise of Muhammad Mustufa in the Holy Quran:

"And We have exalted for you your remembrance" (Surah Al-InShirah, V-4)

"Undoubtedly, Allah and His Angels send blessings on the prophet the communicator of unseen news, O you who believe! Send upon him blessings and salute him fully well in abundance" (Surah Al-Ahzab, V-56)

"I have sent you as a blessing for the whole Universe" (Quran Surah #21:107)

"The Prophet is nearer to his lovers (momin) than their own souls" (Quran Surah #33:6)

"He who obeys the Messenger, indeed he obeys Allah" (surah: Nisa, verse:80)

"We have indeed in the Apostle of God a beautiful pattern (conduct) for any one whose hope is in God and the final Day" (Surah: Al-Ahzab, verse:21)

"Many a time I (Almighty) have seen, you turn your face towards sky. I will make you turn towards a qiblah (direcetion) that will please you" (Quran Surah #2:144)

"He stood on the uppermost horizon; then drawing near; and was at a distance of but two bows' length or even closer" (Quran Surah #53:7-9)

"Allah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among them an Apostle from among themselves." (Quran Surah #33:56)

"Raise not your voice above the voice of the Prophet. Lest your labours should come to nothing without your knowledge" (Quran Surah #49:2)

"Whatever the Apostle gives you accept it; and whatever he forbids you, refrain from. And fear Allah, for Allah is strict in punisment"(Quran Surah al-Hashr)

My dear muslims these are the few verses from the Quran where Allah Ta'ala honors and praises His most beatiful creation Muhammad . The Quran is full of such Praises and honors for Rasulallah (salallahoalaihewasalam). There are several hadees where Rasulallah (salallahoalaihewasalam) himself ordered Hasan bin Thabit to read poetry in his praise. I wonder what munkir-e-Milad would be thinking of Allah Ta'ala and Rasulallah now?, but we the lover of Rasulallah (salallahoalaihewasalam) believe that praising anybody within the boundary of Shariah is in fact indirectly praising Allah Ta'ala who is the creator of all universe. The example is like that if somebody praises a building for its beautiful construction that means indirectly he is also praising the people who were behind this construction i.e. the architect, the designer, the builder etc. If praising somebody is sin or bid'at or shirk then (God forgive) every one of us is committing this sin by praising one's father, mother, son, daughter, teacher, leader or anybody in any aspect. Finally if Munkir-e-Milad proves where in Quran Allah has drawn a line for praising His prophet , we will stop there but instead Quran said about Rasulallah "And We have exalted for you your remembrance" (Surah Al-InShirah, V-4) When Allah Ta'ala raises the remembrance of prophet Muhammad then who on Earth has power to lower it.

SPEECHES ON THE LIFE OF PROPHET (salallahoalaihewasalam)

Our beloved prophet Muhammad Mustufa is the symbol of Islam. No one can talk about Islam without mentioning his name mubarak . He is a vital link between Allah Ta'ala and mankind. No matter how many times we say LA-ILAHA ILLA-ALLAH we will not be a Muslim until and unless we say MUHHAMADUR RASUL ALLAH, even our namaz (which is solely for Allah Ta'ala) will not be completed until we say "ASSALAMO ALAIKA AIYOHUN NABI" in tashhud (while reciting Attaiyaat) , when Allah Ta'ala did not separate His Habib's name from His name then who are we to by pass him . If Muhammad had not come in this world then we would have no Islam, no Namaz, no Zakat, no Ramadan, no kabba and no Hajj. That is why Allah Ta'ala declared in Quran that "Allah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among them an Apostle from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the signs of Allah, sanctifying them, and instructing them in scripture and wisdom, while, before that, they had been in manifest error" (Surah: Ale-Imran, verse:164). and ordered believers to rejoice on His bounty as in this verse " And the bounty ofyour Lord, recite and proclaim" (surah:Ad-Doha, verse:11). Al-hamdolillah, for us believers, Muhammad is the greatest bounty (Nemat) (gift) of all and Allah orders believers to rejoice on His bounty therefore we celebrate Eid-e-milad-un-Nabi gatherings and spread the words of Islam by shading light on various aspect of the life of our beloved prophet . Indeed for us believers, Eid-Milad-un-nabi is a real Eid because without Muhammad (salallahoalaihewasalam) there would have been no Eid-ul-fitr or Eid-ul-Adha either!

SALAT (DAROOD) -O-SALAM

In the Quran Allah Ta'ala commands believers to send Salat and Salam to His Habib Muhammad Mustufa as stated in this verse "Undoubtedly, Allah and His Angels send blessings on the prophet the communicator of unseen news, O' you who believe! send upon him blessings and salute him fully well in abundance" (Surah Al-Ahzab, V-56). In a hadith mubarka "AbuMas'ud al-Ansari who was shown the call (for prayer in a dream)--narrated it on the authority of Mas'ud al-Ansari who said: We were sitting in the company of Sa'd ibn Ubadah when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came to us. Bashir ibn Sa'd said: Allah has commanded us to bless you, Messenger of Allah! But how should we bless you? He (the narrator) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) kept quiet (and we were so much perturbed over his silence) that we wished we had not asked him. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) then said: (For blessing me) say: "O Allah, bless Muhammad and the members of his household as Thou didst bless the members of Ibrahim's household. Grant favours to Muhammad and the members of his household as thou didst grant favours to the members of the household of Ibrahim in the world. Thou art indeed Praiseworthy and Glorious"; and salutation which you know." (Sahi Muslim). In another hadith Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said, "Invoke many blessings on me on Friday for it is witnessed. The angels are present on it, and no one will invoke a blessing on me without his blessing being submitted to me till he stops." I asked whether that applied also after his death, and he replied, "Allah has prohibited the Earth from consuming the bodies of the prophets; so Allah's prophet is alive and given provision."(Al-Tirmizi)

Well, the above verse of Quran and hadees leaves no choice for Munkir-e-Milad but to send Salat wa Salam on our master Muhammad (salallahoalaihewasalam). But because of animosity toward lovers of Rasulallah (salallahoalaihewasalam), the Munkir-e-Milad object on sending Salat wa salam to our beloved prophet (salallahoalaihewasalam) in standing position. In reply, we say that no where in Quran or Hadees, Allah or His Messenger (salallahoalaihewasalam) mentioned in what position we have to send Salat wa Salam. It is entirely upto believers in what position he or she invokes salat-o-salam, whether while sitting or laying on bed/floor or standing still or walking, it does not matter. Since we respect our beloved prophet (salallahoalaihewasalam) the most after Allah Ta'ala, it is the demand of this respect that we stand up and send Salat-o-Salam to the Prophet (PBUH)

DUA

There are categories of Munkir-e-Milad, some believe in Dua, some not and some have become so advanced in their beliefs that they say since Allah Ta'ala knows every things there is no need for Dua. (Astagfirullah). On the contrary, in Quran Allah ta'ala commands the believers to make Dua as stated in the following verses.

"When my servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I litsen to the prayer (dua) of every suppliant when he calleth on Me" (surah: baqra, verse:186). In another verse Allah Ta'ala said "Call on your Lord with humility and in private" (surah Al-Ahraaf, verse 55). Even our beloved Prophet , who is free of all kinds of sins and faults, used to make dua all the time. Are we superior than our master Muhammad that we feel no need of any dua? Let us see what Allah Ta'ala said about those arrogant and ignorant people who feel they do not need to invoke any dua, thus Allah said in surah Momin (Gafir) "And your Lord says: Call on Me; I will answer your (prayer): But those who are too arrogant to serve Me will surely find themselves in Hell - in humiliation!". (surah: Momin, verse 60). In another place Allah said "When the suffering reached them from Us, why then did they not learn humility? On the contrary their hearts became hardened, and Satan made their (sinfull) acts seem alluring to them." (surah:Al-Inaam, verse 43).

DISTRIBUTION OF SWEETS OR DINNER

I don't know what kind of objection Munkir-e-Milad have on distribution of sweets or eating dinner. Don't they eat in Weddings or Walimas or Aqeeqas or Fund raising dinners or Birthdays or any other parties? The Mehfil-e-Milad can also be commemorated without any sweet distribution or having dinner. This is not a must part of the Mehfil, if one cannot afford or does not want to serve food, he or she can celebrate Milad-un-Nabi without serving food to their guests. The distribution of sweets or dinner is carried out as a token of love. The dinner is served just for the convenience of guests so that they don't have to cook at 11 or 12 midnight when they get back home.

CONCLUSION

My dear Muslim brothers and sisters, the above explanation from Quran and Hadees for each component of the Mehfil-e-Milad clearly proves that holding such kind of gathering is not against Islam but actually it is accordance to the very spirit of Islam where Muslim brothers and sisters get to gather and listen words of Allah Ta'ala and His habib (salallahoalaihewasalam). In the same token other gatherings like Shab-e-Barat , Shab-e-Meraj , Shab-e-Qadar , Geewarwhee-Shareef etc where speeches on Allah and His messenger (salallahoalaihewasalam) are given are gathering of khair (virtues) and should be attended by all Muslims.

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